head to head · open source
mkdocs vs zk
mkdocs has 22,532 GitHub stars, 2,658 forks, 192 open issues and last shipped 1.0 years ago. zk has 2,863 stars, 199 forks, 24 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. mkdocs leads on adoption by 687% (22,532 vs 2,863 stars). mkdocs is written in Python under BSD-2-Clause; zk is written in Go under GPL-3.0. mkdocs has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, zk 7%. zk was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| mkdocs | zk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2025-10-20 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 199 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick mkdocs if
- You weight community size — 23K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick zk if
- You want the zk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and zk fits your workflow better
About mkdocs
MkDocs Project documentation with Markdown [![PyPI Version][pypi v image]][pypi v link] [![Build Status][GHAction image]][GHAction link] [![Coverage Status][codecov image]][codecov link] MkDocs is a fast , simple and downright gorgeous static site generator that's geared towards building project documentation. Documentation source files are written in Markdown, and configured with a single YAML configuration file. It is designed to be easy to use and can be extended with third party themes, plugins, and Markdown extensions. Please see the [Documentation][mkdocs] for an introductory tutorial and a full user…
read the full mkdocs overview →
About zk
A plain text note taking assistant Description zk is a command line tool helping you to maintain a plain text Zettelkasten or personal wiki. Looking for a quick usage example? Or want to see it in action? Checkout Shivan's video, Note taking System ALL Programmers Should Consider . Join us on Matrix for general, support and development discussion: \ zk org:pub.solar. Highlights Creating notes from templates Advanced search and filtering capabilities including tags, links and mentions Integration with your favorite editors: Any LSP compatible editor zk emacs for Emacs zk nvim for Neovim 0.8+ zk vscode for Visual…
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Frequently asked questions
Is mkdocs or zk more popular?
mkdocs has 22,532 GitHub stars and zk has 2,863. mkdocs has the larger community by that measure.
Are mkdocs and zk free?
Both are open source. mkdocs is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and zk under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mkdocs and zk?
mkdocs is written in Python and zk in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, mkdocs or zk?
Choose mkdocs if you want the larger community (22,532 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose zk if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.